GTX 470 is exceedingly loud

[Menalaus]

I just recently replaced my 8800GT because of it standing on its last leg (mostly because the thing wails like a banshee when it's under pressure). I figured I'd go for a solid upgrade. Read the review on guru3d about noise level when the card was under work, but I had no clue it'd be this loud. I traded out to get rid of the noise level, not trade one for another. The card sounds like riding cockpit right next to a Cessna's engine, it's ridiculous.

The card hits +90c easily while playing Just Cause 2, which makes the fan kick in. The entire play session is just the fan continuing to work as hard as possible to keep the temperatures down. What gives? Did I just pay $320 for a loud fan? Any suggestions to this problem?

 

[4ghz]

I just recently replaced my 8800GT because of it standing on its last leg (mostly because the thing wails like a banshee when it's under pressure). I figured I'd go for a solid upgrade. Read the review on guru3d about noise level when the card was under work, but I had no clue it'd be this loud. I traded out to get rid of the noise level, not trade one for another. The card sounds like riding cockpit right next to a Cessna's engine, it's ridiculous.

The card hits +90c easily while playing Just Cause 2, which makes the fan kick in. The entire play session is just the fan continuing to work as hard as possible to keep the temperatures down. What gives? Did I just pay $320 for a loud fan? Any suggestions to this problem?

Is it a reference model? If so you probably overpaid at $320. What's your fan speed at when you hit 90c with Just Cause 2? Are you overclocking/overvolting?

 

[tviceman]

Does your case have good airflow? You may have gotten a bad card. Instead of trying to diagnose what is going on, I would RMA it.

 

[busydude]

You did do your home work/research before buying the card.

Suggestion: Lower your ambient temps, water cool, remove the heat sink and re apply thermal paste, add extra fans to your case.

 

[Grooveriding]

470s/480s are generally hot and loud.

Your temps are a bit high at 90c for a single card config, but not anything remarkable. Most 480s hit 90c at load.

What kind of case do you have and does it have decent airflow ?

 

[happy medium]

I just recently replaced my 8800GT because of it standing on its last leg (mostly because the thing wails like a banshee when it's under pressure). I figured I'd go for a solid upgrade. Read the review on guru3d about noise level when the card was under work, but I had no clue it'd be this loud. I traded out to get rid of the noise level, not trade one for another. The card sounds like riding cockpit right next to a Cessna's engine, it's ridiculous.

The card hits +90c easily while playing Just Cause 2, which makes the fan kick in. The entire play session is just the fan continuing to work as hard as possible to keep the temperatures down. What gives? Did I just pay $320 for a loud fan? Any suggestions to this problem?

What gtx470 card was in the Guru review? Which card did you buy?
Whats the name of you case and how many intake /exhaust fans does it have?
What made you believe that a card 2 or 3x faster, with double the power consumption would be quieter?

I did a little research (10 min) and this Galaxy card seems to be quieter and run cooler for $315 or 295$ AR then most 470 cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-051-_-Product

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3288/galaxy_geforce_gtx_470_gc_overclocking/index16.html

 

[Menalaus]

Is it a reference model? If so you probably overpaid at $320. What's your fan speed at when you hit 90c with Just Cause 2? Are you overclocking/overvolting?

I'm hitting 4800 RPM according to the fan tachometer on the EVGA Precision tool (92% fan speed) once the temperature gets to 90c. As for the price, the promotional deal is that it came with a free copy of Mafia II.

470s/480s are generally hot and loud.

Your temps are a bit high at 90c for a single card config, but not anything remarkable. Most 480s hit 90c at load.

What kind of case do you have and does it have decent airflow ?

The case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144151

Which card did you buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

What made you believe that a card 2 or 3x faster, with double the power consumption would be quieter?

My 8800GT used to run quiet for the most part when stressed. It's at the point where it literally screams when stressed. I've read it's what happens to the card when the fan has been overworked.

I know from the guru3d review that it would be noisy, but not to the point where I need to raise the game volume just to hear explosions.

 

[toyota]

yeah the reference card is loud during gaming if you have that. what does the rest of your system look like because that can make it even worse if using a case without enough airflow?

 

[busydude]

2 X 80 mm fans are not good. Is there any option available to install moar fans?

 

[happy medium]

About his case.....on Newegg\

2 x 80mm Blue UV Sensitive LED Fans -1 at rear, 1 on top

Nice size case with little air flow = hot gtx470

 

[Menalaus]

yeah the reference card is loud during gaming if you have that. what does the rest of your system look like because that can make it even worse if using a case without enough airflow?

PSU: APEVIA ATX-AS680W, Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R, Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz, 6GB of RAM.

I'll admit, the processor is the next thing on my list to upgrade. Unless that's actually the problem? Was really hoping on not having to dish out another $200 or so for a good proc to keep up with this card.

2 X 80 mm fans are not good. Is there any option available to install moar fans?

Not that I know of. If air flow is the trouble, I'd much rather look into trying that route than going the expensive water cooling route (especially considering I'm only running one card).

 

[happy medium]

PSU: APEVIA ATX-AS680W, Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R, Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz, 6GB of RAM.

I'll admit, the processor is the next thing on my list to upgrade. Unless that's actually the problem? Was really hoping on not having to dish out another $200 or so for a good proc to keep up with this card.

I'd invest in some silent fans for your case and give that cpu a good cooler and a 800mhz overclock, it will do it easy. :thumbsup:

edit:
Water cooling? I'd rma the card and grab the Galaxy one I linked before i'd do that. It's cheaper anyway.

 

[CitanUzuki]

These cards run hot in general, but 90C for a 470 seems high(depending on your ambient temps), and it seems your case could do with a bit more air flow. I top out at 90C with a 480 in kombustor, my case has great air flow however(at 27C ambient). You could test it out with the side case panel off to see if that helps. If better air flow doesn't help you should return the card.

 

[Menalaus]

I'd invest in some silent fans for your case and give that cpu a good cooler and a 800mhz overclock, it will do it easy. :thumbsup:

edit:
Water cooling? I'd rma the card and grab the Galaxy one I linked before i'd do that. It's cheaper anyway.

These cards run hot in general, but 90C for a 470 seems high(depending on your ambient temps), and it seems your case could do with a bit more air flow. I top out at 90C with a 480 in kombustor, my case has great air flow however(at 27C ambient). You could test it out with the side case panel off to see if that helps. If better air flow doesn't help you should return the card.

How I wish I could return it now...there's no return policy for this card however (just 30 days for replacement returns). Which means I'll have to go with better airflow. Any suggestions how to do that with my current case?

 

[nitromullet]

This isn't really going to answer your question, but in my experience the GTX 470s vary in temps. I have two of the same model EVGA GTX 470s, and one runs about 15C lower than the other at full load. The first one regularly hits 90+ and the second usually breaks into the mid-70s. This is for a single card setup. When running in SLI (I run the cooler card up top because it gets a lot less air flow), the bottom card will be in the 90s and the top card will usually be in the lower-80s.

I don't have AC so ambient temps are somewhat difficult for me to keep consistent, but the delta between the two cards remains pretty constant regardless of the actual ambient and gpu temps.

I was having issues with the hotter card freezing at the welcome screen (explained here: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=551946 ), so that card is currently being RMA'ed. No idea if this was related to the higher temps or not. The card worked fine in gaming for hours on end, but it would just freeze at the welcome screen pretty often.

Maybe the wide range of temps has something to do with the way NVIDIA has started adjusting the voltages on the cards. It used to be that reference cards were clocked at speeds that were obtainable by all cards at a given voltage. Now, the voltage is adjusted from the factory in order for the card to hit the reference clocks. Described in more detail here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/3

 

[toyota]

PSU: APEVIA ATX-AS680W, Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R, Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz, 6GB of RAM.

I'll admit, the processor is the next thing on my list to upgrade. Unless that's actually the problem? Was really hoping on not having to dish out another $200 or so for a good proc to keep up with this card.


Not that I know of. If air flow is the trouble, I'd much rather look into trying that route than going the expensive water cooling route (especially considering I'm only running one card).

I would just return the gtx470 and get a 460 if you don't plan on replacing that cpu soon. it is a massive mismatch for a gtx470 and its crazy to put up with all that heat and noise without coming close to receiving the full performance that card is even capable of. a reference gtx460 is quiet and cool running and depending on your res may be more than plenty for you anyway.

 

[Grooveriding]

OP I would look into what you can do in terms of mounting some 120mm fans into that case if it supports it.

At a minimum if you can get a 120mm taking in air at the front and another 120mm expelling air at the back that will help.

Try to get some decent high rpm fans that can push air since you will only be using two

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26744&vpn=DFS123812H-3000&manufacture=Scythe
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=30749&vpn=SFF21G&manufacture=Scythe

Of course this will likely just offset fan speed from your card to the case fans But some airflow will help, the first fan I linked is really loud, the second not so much.

I doubt you have a defective card, if you are not experiencing lockups or issues with the card. These cards get hot is all and once they get hot, they get loud.

90% fan speed must be pretty obnoxious. My cards will go to about 75% fan under load and I find that too loud.

 

[4ghz]

90c+ at 92% fan speed seems pretty high. Whats your ambient temp? Are you max overvolting? Even when I maxed volted my evga sc 470 it would only hit about 85c at about 82% fan speed playing Crysis with ambient temps of about 21c.

However if your keeping the card I would suggest gutting the exhaust bracket with a rotary tool for higher exhaust airflow. Also cut the thin metal divider in your case between the two card slots. My temps dropped about 7c after I did it at the same fan speed 80%ish or I could run the fan at 5% lower and maintain the same temps.

 

[Menalaus]

I would just return the gtx470 and get a 460 if you don't plan on replacing that cpu soon. it is a massive mismatch for a gtx470 and its crazy to put up with all that heat and noise without coming close to receiving the full performance that card is even capable of. a reference gtx460 is quiet and cool running and depending on your res may be more than plenty for you anyway.

Like I said, can't return the card for a refund. Just my luck, however, considering I'm 99% sure the CPU is bottlenecking the card like no tomorrow. I get an atrocious 12FPS in Mafia II. Guess it's time to drop some more money on a CPU...upgrading can never be simple, can it?

OP I would look into what you can do in terms of mounting some 120mm fans into that case if it supports it.

At a minimum if you can get a 120mm taking in air at the front and another 120mm expelling air at the back that will help.

Try to get some decent high rpm fans that can push air since you will only be using two

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...facture=Scythe
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...facture=Scythe

Of course this will likely just offset fan speed from your card to the case fans But some airflow will help, the first fan I linked is really loud, the second not so much.

I doubt you have a defective card, if you are not experiencing lockups or issues with the card. These cards get hot is all and once they get hot, they get loud.

90% fan speed must be pretty obnoxious. My cards will go to about 75% fan under load and I find that too loud.

Thanks, I'll look into those fans.

90% is ridiculous. I find myself constantly raising the volume just to hear dialogue between characters in games. It's unbearably loud.

90c+ at 92% fan speed seems pretty high. Whats your ambient temp? Are you max overvolting? Even when I maxed volted my evga sc 470 it would only hit about 85c at about 82% fan speed playing Crysis with ambient temps of about 21c.

I've no idea how to max volt the card. Idle temperature gets to 52c, so I'm guessing airflow is the culprit here (40% of the fan speed going--can't hear it though).

However if your keeping the card I would suggest gutting the exhaust bracket with a rotary tool for higher exhaust airflow. Also cut the thin metal divider in your case between the two card slots. My temps dropped about 7c after I did it at the same fan speed 80%ish or I could run the fan at 5% lower and maintain the same temps.

I'll have to look into this. Thanks for the tips.

 

[toyota]

what res are you playing at? for Mafia 2 you need to turn off physx which you should have figured out on your own by now. so many people complain about how a game performs yet don't take 2 minutes to try different settings. if you are getting 12fps with physx off then you have some other major problem and your cpu is not it either. your cpu is enough to be playable for Mafia 2 and almost any other game but yeah it will severely limit the gtx470 from performing its best.

 

[Menalaus]

what res are you playing at? for Mafia 2 you need to turn off physx which you should have figured out on your own by now. so many people complain about how a game performs yet don't take 2 minutes to try different settings. if you are getting 12fps with physx off then you have some other major problem and your cpu is not it either. your cpu is enough to be playable for Mafia 2 and almost any other game but yeah it will severely limit the gtx470 from performing its best.

Physx is off. 12FPS was the low point. It hops around from 20 - 40 and generally stays in the mid 20s. Which is unacceptable as far as this card is concerned (1280x1024 res, all max settings).

 

[happy medium]

Physx is off. 12FPS was the low point. It hops around from 20 - 40 and generally stays in the mid 20s. Which is unacceptable as far as this card is concerned (1280x1024 res, all max settings).

Repeat after me ,raise the front side bus and overclock the cpu. J/K
Really man, you need to overclock.

 

[toyota]

Physx is off. 12FPS was the low point. It hops around from 20 - 40 and generally stays in the mid 20s. Which is unacceptable as far as this card is concerned (1280x1024 res, all max settings).

don't worry about the low point in fly through benchmark like that. 20s certainly does not sound right but again your cpu would not cause it to be that slow. I put my Core 2 at 2.0 and averaged 42fps at 1920 all high with no AA or physx. with my cpu at 3.6 I get 52fps so it does respond to a better cpu but yours at 2.33 should be getting at least 40-45 fps during the bench.

so 1280x1024 is your native res? you really bought a gtx470 for that res? factor in your cpu and you wasted a lot of money for such a silly low res. not to mention 1280x1024 is the worst possible res to play games at because of its horribly narrow 5:4 aspect ration that chops off nearly a third of your field of view.

sorry to sound rude but you should have done more research or at least asked the forums before plunking down 325 bucks in your situation. you should have just stuck with your 8800gt until you planned on getting a modern monitor. also a gtx460 would have been more appropriate since its cooler, quieter and more suited to your relatively mild cpu.

 

[Menalaus]

don't worry about the low point in fly through benchmark like that. 20s certainly does not sound right but again your cpu would not cause it to be that slow. I put my Core 2 at 2.0 and averaged 42fps at 1920 all high with no AA or physx. with my cpu at 3.6 I get 52fps so it does respond to a better cpu but yours at 2.33 should be getting at least 40-45 fps during the bench.

Then what could it possibly be? FPS is good in Just Cause 2 (hitting exactly what you're talking about, 40 - 45 fps).

so 1280x1024 is your native res? you really bought a gtx470 for that res? factor in your cpu and you wasted a lot of money for such a silly low res. not to mention 1280x1024 is the worst possible res to play games at because of its horribly narrow 5:4 aspect ration that chops off nearly a third of your field of view.

For both the monitors I'm using, the res goes up to 1920x1200, I just choose to tone them back to a lower resolution because of my eyesight.

 

[4ghz]

I'll have to look into this. Thanks for the tips.

It should look something like this when your done.